Depression • Gender Differences Women are two times as likely to be depressed than men Sex differences in depression appear between ages 13 and 15 – Women are more likely to have seasonal affective disorder (depression due to different seasons ex. winter etc) – Bipolar disorder- no sex difference in bipolar disorder

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Depression • Methodological Artifacts – Clinicians Bias • Physicians-• less likely to detect depression in men than women • More likely to prescribe antidepressants and antianxiety drugs to women than to men, even when they have similar diagnoses. • Psychiatrists • Equally likely to diagnose depression and prescribe drugs and psychotherapy to males and females

– Response Bias Depression inconsistent with male gender role (because men might not show they are depressed) Men more likely to admit to depressive symptoms when the measure in labeled “daily hassles” rather than “depression”

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Depression • Methodological Artifacts – Different Manifestations of Depression • One idea: men and women equally depressed but experience different symptoms – Ex: Beck Depression Inventory » Most common item for men: social withdrawal » Most common item for women: indecisiveness-Another idea: men and women manifest depressive symptoms in completely different ways; men's depression not assessed through current measures Women: internalizing behavior Men: Externalizing behavior

Biological Theories • Hormones – No consistent or simple relation of hormones to depression in adolescence or at any other time – Testosterone- Curvilinear relationship • Low levels- more feminine style of depression • High levels- more masculine style of depression – Oxytocin (“cuddle chemical”) • Increases with adolescence and promotes affiliative behavior • The combined with increase of interpersonal stressors in adolescence could place women at greater risk for depression

Biological Theories • Interactive Theory (most supported by research) – Being female always constitutes a risk factor for depression, but these factors alone do not cause depression • Why girls more likely to be at risk? – Less instrumentality – Less aggressive interaction styles – More frequent use of rumination as a coping mechanism – Instead, research shows that girls report facing more challenges in adolescence than boys do, probably as a result of gender role intensification.

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• Rumination (Risk factor for rumination) – Gender differences in depression accounted for by rumination – Rumination inhibits problem solving, makes other negative events more salient, and may lead to attributing negative events to internal, stable and global causes – Cycle- rumination leads to depression, which leads to more rumination

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